


Franny’s Keeper

by MilkyMickeyWay



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Babysitting, Canon Compliant, Canon language, Emotional Baggage, Emotions, Fluff, M/M, Married Couple, Married Life, Post Season 10, Season/Series 10, The Alibi Room, Uncle Ian, uncle Mickey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26503840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilkyMickeyWay/pseuds/MilkyMickeyWay
Summary: Babysitting was not a part of Mickey’s afternoon plans and yet here they were.
Relationships: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Comments: 31
Kudos: 252





	Franny’s Keeper

**Author's Note:**

> Of course I was inspired by the Franny and her uncles post, did you see it? Ugh literal tears. This fic in particular can definitely be considered apart of the same universe as my bella notte fic but they don’t have to be read together. 
> 
> All these BTS photos are pretty much fueling me through the rest of 2020.
> 
> Thank you both to [pathoftheranger](pathoftheranger.tumblr.com) and [whaticameherefor](whaticameherefor.tumblr.com) for helping me edit and tweak it around 💞

“Thanks, Mickey! I won’t be out too late!” 

“Wait, no-“

The door slammed, signaling Debbie’s departure from the Gallagher house. Mickey groaned out loud, tossing his head back and rubbing at his eyes. Debbie had torn down the stairs a few seconds earlier, spotting Mickey sprawled on the couch with a gun magazine he swiped from the store display. She had Franny on her hip and practically tossed her over the couch.

“Hey, can you watch Franny? Got a meeting with my lawyer about the whole Julia bullshit.”

Mickey flipped a page. The Ruger-57 stared up from the page at him. At least that’s what it felt like as he admired the model and tried ignoring his sister-in-law. Damn though, he’d like to find someone with one of these to steal. 

“Can’t. Gotta meet Ian after work at the Alibi.”

Debbie leaned down swiftly, kissing her kid on top of the head. Debbie was a lot of shit, but the way she doted over her daughter and exclusively baby-talked her showed how much she cared for her kid. At least now. He’d heard a few early teen mom horror stories from the rest of his in-laws. Nobody’s fucking perfect, she did a whole lot better with her than anyone else around them got.

“That’s fine, Kev and V don’t care if you bring kids in there! Just shove her under a booth if a cop walks in.”

A purse was slung over her shoulder as she swiftly turned to the door.

“I didn’t fucking say yes!”

So there they sat in a bit of a daze, Mickey from suddenly being appointed Franny’s babysitter and Franny from already being sucked into the TV. The two had a bit of interaction with each other, since they kinda fucking lived in the same house, but never by themselves like now. He wasn’t fucking hopeless or anything though, thinking back to his makeshift family days before Ian and him had ended the first go around.

He looked down at Franny. She held a doll in her hands with unevenly chopped up hair. Sandy had gifted it to her, having found a box of pretty butchered dolls that she and Mandy played with as kids. One of them even had an exploded firework attached to its back apparently, the body smeared with black marks and hair burnt completely off. A casualty to a young Mickey’s wrath.

“So, uh, you ate yet?”

Franny turned to him, staring straight into his soul. The kid was scarily quiet mostly and pretty much had been since he’d been around her. Probably didn’t exactly get a chance to get a word in, being surrounded by the lot of them. None of the Gallaghers knew how to shut the fuck up some days.

“No.”

He pushed off from the couch and headed into the kitchen to make a kid-appropriate meal. Yanking the fridge open, he spotted some beer, a few bottles of condiments, a casserole Debbie had tried to cook earlier in the week that not a single person seemed to like, a questionable tupperware container, and some shit he knew the kid wouldn’t like. He couldn’t even remember who was the last person to go to the store or when. No go on fridge food, it seemed. 

He tossed the door shut and grabbed the handle of a cabinet. Boxes of flakey mashed potatoes, ramen in various flavors, ripped open boxes of protein bars with a giant yellow discount sticker on them, sauces, and princess-shaped mac and cheese.

Bingo. He’d seen Franny pretty much destroy a box of the yellow cheesy noodles in record time. It was pretty impressive considering how calm and quiet she was outside of food. Kinda reminded Mickey of Ian, in more ways than one with their freaky red hair. 

He crouched down, resting his arms on his knees before rummaging through a cabinet and pulling out a dingy-looking pot. Once all the supplies were gathered, noodles were added into a boiling pot and Mickey leaned against the cabinet to wait. 

Glancing at the microwave after a few minutes, he realized that he didn’t have a lot of time to waste. Fuck. 

He quickly drained the water and returned the pasta to the pot before he ripped the cheese package open with his teeth, pouring the dusty mix into the pot and stirred. A bowl was found next and the complete meal was swiftly in front of Franny.

He busied himself while she ate, grabbing his boots when he noticed she was nearly done and forcing his feet in without untying anything. He spotted a tiny gray girl’s jacket on the coat rack near the shoes, grabbing it and tossing it across the back of the couch. 

The girl had finished by then, laying the bowl next to her on the couch as her eyes were glued back to the screen in front of her. Kids these fucking days. 

“Alright, Frankenstein, you need anything before we head out?”

She tore her eyes away from the TV before pushing her bottom lip out, raising her tiny hand to her face, and tapping it like she was deep in thought. “Nope!”

He went to take a step but paused. Did he pick the kid up or let her follow him? Debbie scooped her up all the time, but she was her mom. He didn’t exactly have as intense a background with her like he did with the rest of them, considering she was just a fucking twinkle in her mom’s eye back when Ian and him had first dated. 

Franny, oblivious to his inner debate, made his decision for him when she grabbed his hand with hers. The action didn’t even faze her at all, but Mickey practically turned into stone. God, she was so little. Her hand felt like a doll’s in his. 

A short walk later and the two of them arrived at the L. Mickey immediately scowled as they hopped on because of all the people. As a kid he never used it, almost never having spare change to pay any kind of fee. Ian kinda wore him down on the idea, not understanding why Mickey wasted so much of his day walking. It’s not like he ever needed to get a whole lot fucking farther than the neighborhood or bar, and on the off chance he did for a shake down, he had Iggy to drive them around.

But Iggy was in jail for a misdemeanor and the car had been impounded, ruining business for the time being too. It was hard to do anything illegal anyway with fucking Larry the parole officer showing up with a baked pie and a motivational speech. Some days he preferred the crazy bitch from before.

Once on, the two sat side by side, Franny pressed up against him, but the sight of her arms squashed into her caused him to pull her up to sit on his lap without even thinking. 

“Your daughter is very cute.”

He focused on an older woman in a formal business suit talking to him. She was gazing at the pair of them fondly, something that nobody ever did to a Milkovich. He remembered being a dirty, unkempt kid that probably could have used an adult stepping in to help him but only receiving scorned looks instead. 

“Ain’t my kid. Niece, actually.”

The smile didn’t falter from her face. “Well, you seem good with kids. Maybe you’ll make a good dad someday.”

She clasped her hand down on his knee before squeezing, causing Mickey’s lip to curl up in a sneer. She didn’t seem to notice and let go, standing up as the train slowed to a stop. Exiting with a playful wave to Franny, she left Mickey alone with her comments. 

Would he be a good dad? Ian wanted kids, that much was fucking obvious from the time they were teens. Not to mention he’d point-blank said it before their wedding. 

Mickey has tried to be receptive to the idea of kids, but the whole situation was a Yevgeny-shaped sore spot. Because at the end of the day, he did have a kid. A kid that he never wanted to father yet he’d grown to care for, against all odds. That is until he’d gotten his ass thrown in jail and basically lost touch; between that and escaping to Mexico, he wouldn’t even know how to contact Yev even if he wanted to.

Didn’t mean he didn’t think about the kid or anything. It was just a fucking sore subject that he couldn’t avoid with the amount of tiny tots running around the house. Gallaghers multiplied like damn rabbits, it seemed.

“Are you and Uncle Ian going to get pregnant?”

Franny was gazing up at him with curiosity and excited, bright eyes. She loved being an older cousin to Fred, occasionally allowed to hold him on the couch with Tami supervising, a thing that she harped on being completely normal in most families.

He snorted. Leave it to this kid to make the topic a bit less of a tough talk. “Nah, Pebbles. It don’t exactly work like that.”

The train screeched to their stop just as Franny asked, “How does it work?”

His face filled with blood at the idea of explaining that to a child. He was starting to think he preferred all the Gallaghers keep their mouth shut, present company included. “Not fucking telling you that, ask your mom later.” He heard a few patrons gasp around him. “Come on, kiddo.”

The two exited the train, making their way to up to the red hole in the wall building that was the Alibi Room. Mickey held the door open, letting Franny trot in before him.

She spotted V instantly, heading towards her before crawling up the nearest bar stool. 

“Hey, angel,” V said when she noticed her. “What's my favorite little redhead doing here, and where’s your mom?”

Franny proudly proclaimed, “Uncle Mickey brought me here!”

V hitched her hip out a bit, giving Mickey a smug look. “Well, Uncle Mickey, what do we owe this pleasure?”

She cackled afterwards, teasing him since she knew she could currently get away with it. 

He climbed onto the stool next to Franny, reaching out for the beer and shot Kev put down in front of him. Perks of being a regular. Not to mention, Kev was still kissing his ass over some drama from years before.

“Waiting for Ian. Told him I’d meet him after work. Debbie ran off for some lawyer shit and left the kid behind.”

He threw back his shot then, following it with a chug of the beer before exhaling proudly. 

Kev pulled the tap down, releasing beer into the glass in his hand below. The lot of them ran a bar, and yet not a single one of these fuckers knew how to pour a beer correctly. He glanced over at Mickey out of the corner of his eyes. “How’s that going with Debs?”

Another sip of the beer before he answered, “Eh, who knows. Judge is always trying to put people away. Locked a lady in a box once and got attempted murder.” 

“Well, to be fair, you didn’t exactly represent yourself well when you told them, and I quote, you ‘planned to light the bitch on fire.’”

“What the fuck ever.” He glanced down to see Franny listening patiently. “Hey, can we get the kid a soda here?”

V laughed before grabbing the soda hose and pouring a fizzing glass. She placed it down, reaching forward to ruffle Franny’s hair. The girl reached out, sipping on her drink as the group continued talking around her. 

“Hey, Mick.” 

A sudden kiss hit his cheek as Kev went to speak again, causing blush to pepper across his face before he playfully pushed Ian away with an expression of fake annoyance plastered in place. Deep down, he loved when Ian was overly affectionate, but if people started to think he was soft he’d have to give a few more beat downs than he had planned. Ian chuckled before his voice morphed into baby-talk when his focus switched to his niece. 

“Hi, Franny. What brings you here with Uncle Mick today?”

Goddamn it, if one more person called him that, he was going to punch their lights out.

“Hey, yo, Big Bird! Need another soda down here.” He snapped his fingers at Kev, suddenly busy with the late afternoon crowd that Ian snuck in with, and ignored the teasing from his husband. 

After securing Ian a drink, the duo sat at the bar, sipping their beverages and trading small talk. Meaning Ian yapped his fucking ears off and Mickey listened because he loved him. 

“Not too bad of a day overall, besides that.”

Mickey zoned back in, realizing he had only caught bits and pieces of Ian’s latest work adventure. “Well, whatever, you know I’ll rough them up if you need me to. Just say the word.”

Ian snorted. “Got it. Anyway, what’d you all do today?”

“Made the kid lunch, headed here, that’s pretty much it.”

His attention turned to Franny once again. “And you?”

Franny was slurping the last drops of soda at the bottom of the glass, stopping to turn her attention to Ian. “Uncle Mickey made me mac and cheese, and a lady on the bus called him my dad!”

The blush was back, way more noticeable too as Mickey’s eyebrow hitched and he bit his lip out of embarrassment. The kid decided, of all the damn times she was going to use her big girl voice, it was to announce that now?

“Oh, did she now?”

“Yep!”

Mickey tried to cover the blush with a scowl. “So fucking what? I’m twenty-six. Looks more reasonable than your kid sister carting her around on her hip.”

V walked by, holding her hand in a clear sign to pass over the cup in true mom fashion, before filling Franny’s drink up with some more soda. Her eyes raised to meet his, giving him that wise look she did when she decided to pick a brain apart. “You know, you could always reach out to Lana and see about Yevgeny. Got some updated photos she sent a little while back, if you want to see them.”

Yevgeny was a complex part of his life. It wasn’t like he hated the kid —he was just a fucking baby and didn’t exactly ask to be the product of a hooker and gay man but that didn’t keep the thought of him from stirring up complicated feelings. He knew he wasn’t fucking obligated to start tossing a baseball with him on the weekends or anything, but it did take someone as heartless as his own fucking dad to not have some kind of feelings for the kid. He couldn’t imagine Terry even had feelings for any of his own kids, and he actually raised all of them that he knew about—except for Molly.

Ian must have seen the inner struggle behind his eyes (the man could read him from a mile away) because he tossed his arm around him and squeezed his shoulder. “Come on. Don’t have to think about it now or anything.”

He jumped down from the stool, reached over to pick up Franny, and held her against his hip. Ian’s grin grew so wide it could almost be described as scary, but he fucking loved it. He’d spent years silently appreciating every time he managed to earn that grin and those puppy dog eyes. They said their goodbyes, Ian and Franny waving while Mickey grunted, before heading out the front door. 

Ian was right. They had the rest of their lives to worry about kids, their parents, jobs, or whatever else came up. What mattered now was that they were finally together, married, despite all the fucking odds lined up against them, and woke up next to each other every morning. 

And one day? He might get to a place in his life where thinking about his son didn’t trigger the ghost of the feeling he‘d had upon learning Svetlana was pregnant: the horrible, life-ending feeling of being trapped in a relationship without Ian. He didn’t owe it to anyone to work that entanglement of emotions out, but he wanted to. 

“Cheer up, Uncle Mickey.”

A smile normally reserved for Ian lit up his face. “I’m peachy, kid. Let’s go home, and we can watch a movie or something while we wait for your mom, okay?”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Please comment and kudo if you do ❤️ Also as always, Kermit and Tommy are there lol. Busy talking amongst themselves. 
> 
> You can also find me at [MilkyMickeyWay](milkymickeyway.tumblr.com)


End file.
